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West Indies cricketers were greeted by brilliant sunshine when they touched down at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday morning. By late evening, however, it was very overcast.

But the forecast, from more than one source, for the next few days is encouraging, and Sabina Park, drenched by countless inches of rain that doused Jamaica for ten successive days, seems to be in good enough condition for tomorrow's first of five One-Day Internationals against New Zealand.

The continuous rain, caused by a low pressure system that forced the abandonment of the two limited-overs matches involving India on May 25 and 26, finally abated on Friday evening to allow groundstaff to get preparations under way the following day.

Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president Jackie Hendriks was quietly confident the rains would keep away despite the heavy presence of dark clouds over Sabina at 2:30 p.m. yesterday.

I am heartened by the forecast. I don't think that this is anything too serious, he said. I think that up in the mountains there would be a little bit of rain, but from where we get our rain, it doesn't look all that bad.

It was steaming hot over the weekend and in spite of yesterday's cloudiness, officials at the Meteorological Office predicted today would be generally fair, while the three-day outlook was given as partly cloudy.

The yahoo.com website gave a forecast of mostly cloudy skies during the morning with scattered showers this afternoon. The chance of rain was estimated at 30 per cent. For tomorrow, the website said there would be a few showers.

As Hendriks spoke yesterday afternoon, the Sabina Park outfield was being cut, while the pitch, which was under covers during the prolonged rain, was being constantly rolled.

The outfield has dried out very well and the pitch was never really affected, the JCA boss said.

The groundstaff have been working since Saturday afternoon and I think the ground will be in very good condition. The outfield has recovered remarkably well.

The pitch to be used is the one that was utilised during the Test match. That's because of a lack of preparation for the surface that was intended to be used for the shorter matches.

There were reports in Port-of-Spain last weekend that plans were in the pipeline to shift Wednesday's match to the Antigua Recreation Ground, but they were put aside after Hendriks informed West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Wes Hall that he was of the view Sabina could stage the match.

On Friday there was a tremendous downpour around 2 p.m. and it was a matter of us saying to them (WICB) that things were not looking very well, Hendriks said.

We were feeling at that stage with all due caution that maybe they should make some arrangements otherwise. But I discussed the matter with the president and told him we would get back to him on Saturday evening. Saturday was a beautiful day. We had hot sun. The groundstaff were quite happy and the forecast was good, so we proceeded. I advised them on Saturday night that I thought we would be able to have the match.

Head groundsman Charlie Joseph said there were hardly any problems in getting Sabina prepared after the rains stopped.

If there was a match tomorrow (today), we would have been ready, he said. You can notice we don't have any heavy grass on the field. It didn't get out of hand to grow high.

The pitch, he added, would be a typical strip for limited-overs matches.

It will be full of runs. If the West Indies bat first, it wouldn't be a problem. It is going to be a fair wicket for both sides.

Against the background of the double washout the previous weekend, Hendriks reported that ticket sales for tomorrow were beginning to pick up. He added that many fans were taking advantage of a decision to allow patrons to exchange any tickets that were bought for the India matches.

© The Barbados Nation